Eight Thai banks set up hotline centres for reporting online fraud cases
Eight Thai commercial banks have set up their own hotline centres for victims of online fraud to report their cases so that immediate action can be taken to prevent losses, deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul said on Friday.
Relevant government agencies, including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, and the Bank of Thailand, are working closely with the Thai Bankers Association (TBA) and state banks to tackle the issue and minimise damage to the public, she said.
The eight private and state banks have opened hotline centres working round-the-clock to accept complaints of fraud. Contact Kasikornbank on (0-2888-8888 and press 001), Krungthai Bank (0-2111-1111 press 108), Bank of Ayudhya (1572 press 5), Bangkok Bank (1333 or 0-2645-5555 press *3), Siam Commercial Bank (0-2777-7575), TMB Thanachart Bank (1428 press 03), Government Savings Bank (1115 press 6), and CIMB Thai Bank (0-2626-7777 press 00).
“Bank customers who think they may be at risk from online crime because they do their bank transactions frequently through banking mobile apps should record the contact number of their bank for quick action,” Traisuree said.
Many bank customers have fallen prey to online scammers and call-centre gangs tricking them to download a malicious app and install it in their smartphone.
The malware enables a hacker to remotely monitor and control the compromised phone to transfer money from the user's bank account using a banking mobile app. Such money transfers often happened when the phone was not in use by its owner.
Traisuree said on Friday that besides the hotline centres, the government was pushing for a new law aimed at tackling online frauds more effectively.
The legislation would have such measures as authorising banks to scrutinise suspicious bank transactions and to crack down on mule bank accounts that receive money from a variety of individuals or businesses for criminal reasons.
She said the DES Ministry, the TBA, the central bank, and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission are developing a Central Fraud Registry unit as a mechanism to prevent damage from online bank frauds.
